


Cover to Cover

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2018 [45]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Bookstores, Ghosts, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill, Reading, Team Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-24 01:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15619827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for One Day prompt:any, any, a day spent reading a book in an old bookshop.In which Danny finds a good book and spends the whole day reading it while everyone else comes and goes around him.





	Cover to Cover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nagi_schwarz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/gifts).



Danny found the book when he was shelving some of his latest acquisitions, from an estate sale on the Big Island. Most of it was so-called classical literature – reprints, not first editions which would’ve brought in more money – which he found to be pretty mind-numbingly boring. But tucked in with the Edith Whartons and Nathaniel Hawthornes was something that actually sounded good. Danny plopped himself in one of the reading chairs, which had a clear view of the front door and the register, and started to read.

“Whatcha doing?” Bethany asked, materializing next to Danny’s chair. He held the book up and waved it in front of her face, eyes still moving along the text. “You’re reading? Seriously?”

“Go away.”

“Fine. Maybe Steve is doing something fun.”

“Mmm hmm.”

Bethany popped back out again, but Danny barely noticed. He was riveted by the story of the heirs of two rival organized crime families who made the choice to step away from their destinies and start over fresh somewhere else. It was like a gay _Romeo and Juliet_ without any tawdry suicide scenes.

“Hey, Danny,” Jerry said when he came through the door.

“Hey,” Danny replied without looking up.

Jerry didn’t need any assistance. He went to the shelves where all the conspiracy books were kept and spent a good half hour perusing each and every one until he made a decision.

“How much is it?” Danny asked, still reading. 

“Five fifty.”

“Just put a five on the counter and we’ll call it good.”

Jerry pulled out his wallet. “Thanks, man. That must be a good read.”

Danny just nodded.

Things were steaming up between the two mobster runaways. Danny didn’t read gay erotica as a general rule but, speaking as someone who had some experience in the art of gay sex, he thought the scenes were very well done. He checked the cover for the author’s name, but there was no way of telling if the N in N. Schwarz stood for Ned or Nancy.

“Howzit,” Chin said as he came through the door, a plastic tub in his hands. “I’m going to run some wire in the back.”

“Knock yourself out,” Danny replied.

“Good book?”

“Really good.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Chin said. He went to the back of the store, where the conference table had been set up. Danny had no idea what he was running wire for and he didn’t care, not as long as he got to keep reading.

The two guys were recruiting a third and Danny wasn’t sure how that was going to play out. He’d been in a threesome a sum total of once, and that had been with another guy and a girl. It had been more awkward than anything else. But N. Schwarz was tackling the subject with unexpected nuance and delicacy, so maybe it wouldn’t suck. Danny hoped not, anyway, because everything up till that point has been so good.

“Aloha,” Kono said. She came through the door in uniform, some to-go boxes in her hands. “Thought I’d take my lunch here. Chin said you’ve been glued to that chair all day. You must be hungry.”

Danny looked up and blinked at her. It was lunchtime already? His stomach grumbled at the smell of spicy shrimp. 

“I could eat,” he said. He carefully marked his place in the book and stuck it behind the counter. He popped Jerry’s wrinkled cash in the register, went to the bathroom, and then joined Kono and Chin at the conference table.

“Where’s the kid today?” Kono asked.

“She was bored so she went to see what Steve was up to.” Danny opened his to-go box and breathed in the steamy smell of spices and grilled shrimp. “Kono, I think I love you.”

“You should,” she replied with a cheeky grin. “I’m awesome.”

While they ate, Chin and Kono kept up an easy conversation about family, work, and their plans for the weekend. Danny only half-listened, his mind still on the book. Things had been going really well for the protagonists, so he was certain bad things were looming on the horizon.

As soon as Kono left to get back to work, Danny retrieved the book and reclaimed the chair. Chin finished up what he had to do and told Danny to enjoy the rest of his day. Danny just nodded. It was as he’d predicted: the crime families found their long-lost sons and the shit hit the fan. Cue body count.

Some girls came into the bookstore, giggling and wandering around. They left without buying anything. An older woman came in and Danny was forced to get up and help her because she was looking for a very specific book that she then paid for using a credit card. He was probably too brusque with her, but he was into the last third of the book and things were happening fast.

“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” Bethany popped up again. “You’re _still_ reading? Have you even moved all day?”

“Go away.”

Danny didn’t realize Steve was there, too, until he flipped the sign in the window to closed. “Howzit, Danny? You do realize you’ve been closed for the last twenty-five minutes, right?”

Danny held up his hands. “Just a sec. Almost there.”

The ending of the book was incredibly satisfying. The new friends the heirs had made rallied around them and helped take down both crime families. And the threesome worked out better than Danny had expected, so much so that he almost wanted to go back and re-read those parts.

He closed the book and felt a slight sense of loss. He’d been right there in it with those characters for the entire day and it was weird to step back into the real world. He scrubbed his hands over his face and stretched, spine popping.

“Is it time for dinner?”

“Yeah.” Steve leaned against the counter, showing off his long, lean form. “And we need to talk about our first official case.”

“We have a case?” Danny held the book in his hand, uncertain for a moment whether he wanted to shelve it or keep it for himself. In the end he decided to shelve it, let someone else have the chance to discover _Blood and Water_.

“It’s ghosts!” Bethany said, practically jumping up and down. 

“Just what we need,” Danny replied. “Come on. Rainbow Drive-in. My treat. You can fill me in on the way.”

He turned off the lights and locked the front door. There wouldn’t be time for any reading once they got involved in the case, so he was glad he’d had the time to indulge. Maybe he’d see if N. Schwarz had any other books he might be interested in.

“So tell me about the ghosts.”

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Who better to spend all day reading a book than the owner of a bookstore? ::grins:: I highly recommend the real [Blood and Water](https://archiveofourown.org/series/581311), which is an amazing fic by nagi_schwarz.


End file.
